Synod of Cashel

The Synod of Cashel of 1172, also known as the Second Synod of Cashel,^{[note 1]} was assembled at Cashel at the request of Henry II of England shortly after his arrival in Ireland in October 1171. The synod sought to regulate some affairs of the church in Ireland and to condemn some abuses, bringing the church more into alignment with the Roman Rite. As such it can be seen as a continuation and part of the Irish church reform of the twelfth century, with the first synod of Cashel, the Synod of Rathbreasail and the Synod of Kells, slowly embracing the Gregorian Reforms. The extent to which the synod set the direction for the relationship between the English and the Irish church has been the subject of scholarly debate. Stephen J. McCormick described the synod as one of the most important events of this period of Irish history.^[1]

The synod is not mentioned in Irish sources, so historians have had to rely on other sources,^[2] in particular Giraldus Cambrensis' (Gerald of Wales) account in Expugnatio Hibernicae (Conquest of Ireland). In his account of the synod he lists the "constitutions" of the synods, "verbatim, as they were published".^[3]

Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).